DECOY

v. n.

5 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
v.

To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap; to insnare; to allure; to entice; as, to decoy troops into an ambush; to decoy ducks into a net. Did to a lonely cot his steps decoy. Thomson. E'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy. Goldsmith.

2.
n.

Anything intended to lead into a snare; a lure that deceives and misleads into danger, or into the power of an enemy; a bait.

3.
n.

A fowl, or the likeness of one, used by sportsmen to entice other fowl into a net or within shot.

4.
n.

A place into which wild fowl, esp. ducks, are enticed in order to take or shoot them.

5.
n.

A person employed by officers of justice, or parties exposed to injury, to induce a suspected person to commit an offense under circumstances that will lead to his detection.


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